In FIFA.com’s latest stats review, Asmir Begovic’s incredible goal comes under the microscope along with a David Trezeguet milestone, records for Roma and Bayern Munich, and the prolific form ofNigeria’s U-17s.
300
career goals was the landmark reached, and then passed, by David Trezeguet on Friday. The former France international came off the bench to register two second-half goals – his 300th and 301st overall – and inspire his Newell’s Old Boys side to come from two down to snatch a 2-2 draw at Colon. Trezeguet, who is now 36, described this latest feat as “a very important milestone in my career; a career that is now slowly coming to an end”. These latest goals were his fourth and fifth for Newell’s and supplement a tally that already included 62 for Monaco, 171 for Juventus, 12 in the colours of Hercules, 17 while with River Plate and 34 for the France national team.
97.5
yards was the distance from which Stoke City goalkeeper Asmir Begovic scored the week’s most talked-about goal in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Southampton. Just 13 seconds were on the clock, and only one other Stoke touch had been registered, when the Bosnia-Herzegovina international found the net with a massive kick downfield that deceived and embarrassed his Saints counterpart, Artur Boruc. The goal was, in fact, the fifth-fastest in Premier League history, and one of just five to have been scored by a goalkeeper (the others having come from Peter Schmeichel, Paul Robinson, Brad Friedel and Tim Howard). History was also made in Wales, meanwhile, where Cardiff City and Swansea contested the first-ever English top-flight fixture not to feature an English team. And it was a good week for Manchester City, who recorded a 7-0 victory over Norwich City – the club’s biggest win since the Premier League’s inception.
36
Bundesliga matches unbeaten, a run first racked up by Hamburg in 1983, became the latest record to be equalled by Bayern Munich on Saturday. It is now over a year since the German and European champions last tasted defeat in the league, with Hoffenheim their latest victims. Bayern have also won 30 of those 36 unbeaten matches to the 20 of Hamburg, scoring more (95 to 88) and conceding fewer (21 to 38) than their record-setting predecessors. Furthermore, Saturday’s 2-1 win was the 48th consecutive Bundesliga match in which the Bavarians have found the target, extending an already-record sequence. And Europe continues to prove a happy hunting ground too, with last night’s 1-0 win at Viktoria Plzsen the club’s ninth successive UEFA Champions League victory. Only one team – Barcelona in 2002/03 – has ever previously strung together such a lengthy sequence of wins in Europe’s elite club competition.
23
goals have been scored by Nigeria en route to the final of the FIFA U-17 World Cup UAE 2013, taking them to within a single strike of the tournament record. That benchmark of 24, set by Germany in the 2011 edition, will come under threat when the all-conquering Eaglets go up against holders Mexico in Friday’s final. The Mexicans have themselves impressed in UAE and there is no doubting their pedigree at this level, with the semi-finals having been reached in three of their last four U-17 World Cups. However, it is the Nigerians who have set the tournament alight thus far, averaging a hugely impressive 3.8 goals per match thanks to a tally that is over double the haul of their final adversaries.
10
successive Serie A wins was the record run that came to an end for Roma over the past week. Rudi Garcia’s side had set this new Italian benchmark last Thursday with a 1-0 win over Chievo, but a 1-1 draw at Torino three days later meant they fell one short of equalling the best-ever streak recorded at the start of a top-flight season in Europe’s traditional big five leagues. That record remains with Tottenham Hotspur, who racked up 11 straight victories at the beginning of their title-winning 1960/61 campaign. Roma’s defence was also breached at long last, with Torino’s Alessio Cerci ending the leaders’ run of 743 minutes without conceding a goal. For goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis, that left him 31 minutes short of the Serie A record streak, set by Ivan Pelizzoli in 2003/04. Elsewhere, there was reason to celebrate for Sassuolo, who won their first-ever away match in Serie A all thanks to Domenico Berardi, who at 19 years and 94 days become the league’s second-youngest hat-trick scorer this century.
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